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4 Steps To Overcoming Real Adversity

Are you struggling with overcoming adversity in your life? If your answer is no, you’re either fooling yourself or have already surrendered. The reality is that on a daily basis we face adversity, we struggle with addiction, willpower, legal battles, financial struggles, moral dilemmas and health concerns. Some battles are life-threatening, some will impact the majority of our lives and some are hindering us from being who we want to be and the lives we want to live.

At TheMansDen we want to help you overcome adversity, to help you be the person you want to be. If you have been living a life of submission under the pretense of “it is what it is” then you’ve already surrendered. We need to find the drive, the motivation and the urgent need to engage in overcoming. Although you can take much of this strategy to earn more money, we would like to take it to a deeper level. Geared towards the man you want to be, to overcome those things that are holding you back. To create a legacy that you and your children can be proud of. Too many of us are lost in the world, struggling to find a direction because we are too focused on career and not enough on character. Let this guide help you overcome in all aspects of your life!

As you read through these steps and consider the tools, we recommend that you take notes on what you’re reading, learning and implementing. Turn this study into reality!

1. Acknowledge & Identify The Problem Before Overcoming

Look at the challenge directly, be honest with yourself in how it’s affecting your life and those around you and try to tackle one problem at a time. The most dangerous challenges are those that are so well hidden that we fail to acknowledge that they even exist. For example the famous alcoholics anonymous program always starts with admitting that there is a problem. Without the acknowledgement it’s impossible to overcome.

Once we know what the problem is, it’s time to clearly and realistically outline how it’s impacting your life and what the future looks like once you overcome. As an example, an alcoholic at this point must acknowledge that the issue is depriving them of good health, relationships and is causing financial and moral strain. Depending on how long we’ve lived with this challenge, it could even be a matter of life and death. It takes a realist vision to understand the severity. The fact that if I continue in this manner I may lose my life, family and character. Look closely and with as much accuracy as possible outline the situation.

One of the reasons that many chose not to honestly acknowledge problems is because of the fear that they have failed in the past and/or will continue to fail in the future. It’s a difficult concept looking at the difficulties in your life because we will usually tie them back into personal failures.

But don’t bail out at this point! It’s won’t be easy but we’ve outlined the tools that you ALREADY HAVE which will help you overcome further in this article. You already know it will be worth it.

TIP – Truly assess the situation, make sure you agree with yourself on this goal. If you’re trying to achieve something just because everyone else around you is working for the same thing, you’re not doing it for the right reason. Search your soul and use your mind to discern the nature of your objectives.

2. Understand Your Strength & Tools

Forget what people say about you, even what you think about yourself and focus closely on who you actually are. We are men, born with vast potential. Outlined below are the three parts of who we are and how we were designed. The most amazing realization starts with the fact that we are made in the image of God, designed with purpose, power and tremendous ability to build, repair and overcome!

Tools To Overcoming Adversity:

You Soul: There is a greatly powerful yet hidden facet of our lives which historically has been counted on to achieve what our logic and bodies deem as impossible. Some say it’s the heart, others our spirit, but we will call it the soul. It’s the piece of all living men that was given to us through the breath of God. The invisible substance through which we draw love and which can overtake us towards hate. It’s the part of us that can trigger physical reaction in our bodies to produce adrenaline which we use for fight, flight and even perseverance. With a defeated soul, the mind and body cannot stand against adversity. At the basic level the broken soul is demoralization. Here are some modern examples…

Have you ever seen a great sports team in a bad slump or even just a bad second half? You see the potential, but no matter what they do, they are a step slower, a few mistakes away, the fight is missing, it’s almost like they have checked out of the game. Now compare it to a team that believes that they are champions and that nothing can stop them or get in the way. Even when they are down, their soul assures them that they will overcome.

The condition of our souls will determine the outcome of the battle and our ability to overcome it. The most incredible thing about this is that your current condition is not fixed, meaning that how you feel today is not necessarily how you will feel tomorrow. You can be completely flat, hopeless, broken today and yet the soul has the ability to quickly change. A spec of hope, a reason to fight and the soul is quickly re-energized and ready to take on more than we can even imagine.

Your Mind: Every human is armed with a mind which is 10,000 times more powerful than the best computer processor that has ever been built, this is not an exaggeration but a fact. This tremendous capacity gives us the power to constantly learn and apply new things. In a nut-shell, whatever problem you are facing, as long as you are willing to dig deep into its core and apply your mind to truly understanding it, you have the ability to gain the knowledge to overcome. Equally important to applying our minds to what the problem is actually applying it to the solution. We have thousands of years of recorded history, biographies, stories of failure and triumph at our disposal. There are countless learning lessons for those who choose to learn and apply but regardless of what any teacher, friend, enemy or family member has told you, you have the ability to learn in order to understand and overcome.

Make sure your mind is in line with your soul, that you are thinking about overcoming, that you believe that you will and that you have the capacity to do so. Train your mind to think positively and focus on the task at hand. Find motivation to keep going, use your mind to overcome your body. Think strong.

Your Body: Our bodies are wonderfully constructed, it is through them that we have the ability to put into the world our intentions. A strong body will support your mind and soul, but a weak body can be a hindrance. Most importantly since the mind, body and soul are all intimately connected it is important that all of the members are in working order. Depending on your challenge your body needs to be prepared, this is not to say that you need to be able to bench lift 400 lbs to overcome your obstacles. In fact, most of the major obstacles we face are not physical. So at the very least our body needs to be in good enough shape to keep the mind and soul in proper function.

For example, if you are fighting a legal battle and need to do extensive articling, you will need to have adequate rest along with enough nutrition to keep your mind and body working efficiently. Unlike what most people will tell you, you actually don’t need that much to keep your body running strong, a basic method is just to eat good food (fresh, natural) and stay active.

3. Plan & Execute

You now know what the problem is, you know which tools you have at your disposal and you should have done some research on how others have overcome and what you need to do to overcome. Now it’s time for you to act!

Like any other task, you want to write down your realistic goals and put timeframes on them. Start with short targets and keep the end goal in mind. Have a checklist of mile-stones that you can celebrate from now until you have officially overcome. Work with someone who you trust to keep you honest and motivated along the way (warning – not all smiling people want the best for you, if you don’t trust 100%, keep it to yourself).

When you start making the necessary changes in overcoming, you need to wake up every morning with a warrior like mindset, today is a small battle leading to the final victory. Every small victory will build your strength and confidence. Stick to your plan and work hard not to fall off track. If you do, don’t get discouraged but turn back to your goals and keep going. The key here is to keep pushing, no matter how hard it gets, keep pushing. You started this because you know how great the end is, finish it because you know you can!

4. Celebrate Your Successes

Even small victories need to be recognized and celebrated. Don’t wait for others to praise you but take solace in the fact that you are becoming the person that you want to be. Celebrate and remind yourself that together your soul, mind and body are capable of overcoming.

TIP – Find ways to celebrate, but if you’re not hitting your goals, seek more help. Do more research, find the motivation to hit your targets.

Now that you have been equipped, the final step left is for you to overcome. We wish you strength, persistence and perseverance to your soul, mind and body. You got this!

Email us if you need support. Let us know what you’ve overcome and what works for you. Join in on this discussion and let us never stop working on being better men.

Send this to anyone and everyone you know who is facing adversity today.